Skip to main content

it's alive!

Yes I'm still alive. Hi all. The last couple of months have been pretty huge... no chance of letting you in on all the goings on but here's a summary:

- Was starting to really hit the wall at Ngukurr and feeling burned out. Felt the need to think seriously about medium to long-term plans
- In the middle of that was a mammoth trip to the Indigenous languages Conference in Adelaide. Three of the guys I work with at Ngukurr came along. It was exhausting but great. We did a presentation that went very well (including a few tears and a choked up presenter... hmmm... that would be me!)
- Then i turned 30!!
- then i had a month off while my mami SN helped out with things at the Ngukurr Language Centre. Thanks mami. (You can read some of her stories on 'Finding A Voice' - click the link to the right)
- I went to Dublin to visit my sister for two weeks. Hi sis!
- Then came back to Katherine to find a tricky situation at work whereby I felt obligated to temporarily take on the Coordinator position at the Katherine Language Centre. And I'm still here! It's a huge job that I only started a week ago and I'm trying very hard not to get too overwhelmed and wrought with anxiety.
- But things are still plugging along at Ngukurr. We have a contigency plan in place and I'm off there tomorrow for a couple of days.

So wish me luck with all these goings on.

And we're advertising for the Coordinator position at the Katherine Language Centre. If anyone's interested (or if anyone's interested in doing some work at Ngukurr too), send me an email: munanga at bigpond dot com

Mah, Jaldu na.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I'm glad you're still around Gagu, I was wondering where you were! But of course, SN was running things at Ngukurr straight after ILC/ALS, so that makes sense.

Good luck filling the coordinator position! Is it weird that you'll be interviewing people to be your boss?
10:23 pm
Catalin said…
Good for you, Wamut, for stepping in. I think you'll do a great job. You've got the head and the heart for it, and you know what needs to be done in the role.

And hey, congratulations on turning 30! And how was Ireland? etc. etc.
Glad to see you blogging again.
4:11 pm
Anonymous said…
Hi to you too!
I miss you in Dublin with all your "flash" comments and your flat cap!
12:07 am
bulbul said…
Nice to hear from you again, wamut :)
And congratz on both the 30th birthday and the election news :P
2:16 am
Sophie said…
Nomo 'jaldu -na' yu gada kip goin splaininbat ebrijing la melabat. Yu raidim dan main boi- ola wekwan stori, ngi?
Mela longwei dumaji

xx
Mami
11:43 am
zebragirl said…
Hey Wamut,
I know you'll do a great job at the centre. I turned 30 too! How's that fellow Sag. My party was awesome but would\ve been better if you mob were there. Hooch texted me and said you danced to Womack and Womack - so did we! I held the party at a local drinking spot opposite our house in Kumbosigo and got to make my own CD's and my friend did the DJ'ing. See my email re: From Little Things Big Things Grow. :)
I am spreading the word about Aboriginal languages, people etc.
Footsteps on the dancefloor remind me Baby of you... ooooh ohoooo ohh
hugs
Zebragirl
9:44 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A conference, language policy and Aboriginal languages in Federal Parliament

The other day, I was priveleged in attending a TESOL symposium about 'Keeping Language Diversity Alive'. One of the speakers, Joseph Lo Bianco was excellent and discussed Language Policy. He gave a handout at one of his sessions that I'm going to type out in full here, because it was a real eye-opener. It's from the Official Hansard of the Federal Parliament from a debate that happened on 10/12/98. Here's how it went: Mr SNOWDON: My question is to the Prime Minister. Is the Prime Minister aware of the decision by the Northern Territory government to phase out bilingual education in Aboriginal schools? Is the Prime Minister also aware that his government funds bilingual education programs in Papua New Guinea and Vietnam? Prime Minister, given that article 26(3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children, will you take a direct approach to the Norther...
6 comments
Luk mowa >>

Stirring quotes from Aboriginal educators

Today I've been working on my submission for the Federal Government's Inquiry into Language Learning in Indigenous Communities.  As part of my research for my submission, I was searching for quotes from Aboriginal educators in support of bilingual education and Indigenous language education.  When I assembled the quotes, I found it pretty much heartbreaking to see the passion that is there when at the same time Indigenous language education is being denied because of the NT Government's ridiculous Compulsory Teaching in English for the First Four Hours policy.  Here's what I found today: What we want is both-way teaching in the school – not only for two hours a week but everyday there should be both-way teaching… That policy of speaking English only at the school is the wrong thing – it is not good for our children … they will forget their language  - Rembarrnga speaker Miliwanga Sandy (Beswick Community) (in Gosford 2009). I am a qualified bilingual teache...
Post a Comment
Luk mowa >>

The Oscar-winning Coda and its (mis)representation of interpreting (or, why I almost walked out of the cinema)

Ok so I'm a linguist not a movie critic but I am an avid movie-goer - part of the generation of Australians raised by Margaret and David to appreciate cinema and think critically about it. (I've even reviewed a few things on this blog: Short-doco Queen of the Desert , short film Lärr and some discussion of the brilliant Croker Island Exodus here ).  At this years Oscars, the film Coda surprised many by taking out Best Picture. It seems like few people have even had a chance to see it. Here in little ol' Katherine, we have a brilliant film society at our local Katherine 3 cinema, where each fortnight we get to watch something a bit different. In late 2021, I had the chance to see Coda there, long before it was thought of as an Oscar contender. Now that Coda is being talked about more than ever before, I wanted to share my experience of watching the film - especially because in one scene in particular, I was so angry that I genuinely considered walking out of the cinema -...
7 comments
Luk mowa >>